There are currently a wide variety of different types of geographic data and graphic software available. For instance, many people have access to digital maps, and mapping software, that facilitates the creation and use of digital maps.
The availability of such digital maps and mapping software has given rise to an industry devoted to location-based software and services. Such software and services provide functionality based on a specified geographic location. For instance, some examples of location-based software and services include route planning software, navigation software, and services that locate nearby businesses, such as restaurants, gas stations, etc.
Some location-based software and services, although they have conventionally been deployed on desktop computers, are being deployed on mobile devices and embedded computers (such as those found in automobiles). In these applications, it can be very important to provide the user with a way for easily inputting locations to the system.
Mobile devices and embedded computers often have very small screens and are used in environments in which it may be undesirable to have the user pay particularly close attention to the mobile device or embedded computer. For instance, some such computers are used while driving. Driving, of course, is a hands-busy/eyes-busy environment, and it would be undesirable to require a user to use certain input modes on a computer (such as typing, mouse inputs, or stylus inputs) while driving.
Other types of input modes, however, are relatively safe. Speech, for instance, is a safe and natural input mode that can be used for inputting location information into such location-based software and services.
There are some difficulties, however, in specifying a location using speech. Locations can be conveyed by the user in several ways. For example, a business or point of interest can be used to indicate a location if the corresponding address is known. However, this only works for unique businesses or points of interest, and does not work for chain businesses or residences. For example, asking for directions to “ACME Coffee Company” may be highly ambiguous, especially if AMCE Coffee Company is a chain establishment, having many stores. There may be many ACME Coffee Company stores in a given city, and often more than one on a single street.
Specifying a full street address on the other hand, nearly always corresponds to a unique location. Unfortunately, however, using the street address is difficult in practice because of recognition errors, especially when using a speech recognizer that only performs a single recognition pass. For example, when one considers that the state-of-the-art recognition accuracy for a five-digit number in noisy conditions (often found in driving) is approximately 90 percent, this means that one out of ten house numbers or zip codes will be misrecognized. In such cases, the disambiguation strategies used to correct these errors must often resort to tedious digit-by-digit confirmation.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.